According to Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, the supervisor general of KSrelief, donations from Saudi Arabia to the relief effort had already surpassed SR13 million ($3.5 million) before KSrelief made its formal fundraiser announcement.

By Wednesday night, a total of almost SR65.9 million had been given by tens of thousands of Saudi citizens and residents.

Early on Monday, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit parts of southeast Turkey, northwest Syria, and nearby regions. A few hours later, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake slammed the same locations. Tens of thousands of people have reportedly been hurt, and around 11,000 people died.

Aid workers have had a difficult time getting to the remote areas of both the countries for the past two days since the calamity. Rescuers have been sifting through debris with their own hands in various locations with the dwindling hope of discovering more survivors.

According to the International Rescue Committee, Turkiye’s Bab Al-Hawa, the only entry point for UN humanitarian aid into northern Syria, has reportedly been closed due to earthquake damage.

The closing of Bab Al-Hawa has made it even more difficult to send sufficient and prompt help to the most severely affected areas because the majority of aid entering Syria must travel through Damascus, which closely regulates its distribution to governorates.

More than 1,500 people have died and at least 4,200 have been injured in Idlib, according to Syria Civil Defense, better known as the White Helmets, and the number is likely to go up.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), rescuers must act quickly not merely to save lives but also to ensure that the injured survive in dangerous situations.

“We launched the national donation campaign and we appeal to donors, male and female, businessmen and individuals, to effectively contribute to alleviating the suffering of those affected by the earthquake in Syria and Turkiye”, Dr. Al-Rabeeah said. “I tell every donor that every riyal they give will go toward reducing the suffering of someone who has been hurt, whether they are hurt or broken, or they need to be rescued”.

You can donate using the Sahem platform or one of the many available options on the KSrelief website. Sahem only accepts monetary donations, and since KSrelief does not charge administrative fees, all donations go directly to the recipients.

Food packages are already being procured by KSrelief and sent to individuals in need. King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave the organization the go-ahead to create a humanitarian corridor to provide supplies for food, shelter, health care, and logistics to Syria and Turkey on Tuesday.

Saad bin Nasser Al-Shathri, a member of the permanent committee of Ifta, the Council of Senior Scholars, and a consultant to the Royal Court, praised the Sahem campaign for its efforts to assist in addressing the enormous humanitarian needs in Turkey and Syria and reaffirmed that previous Saudi fundraising efforts had assisted numerous people and nations in need.

How to legally send donations to Turkey and Syria? Click Here To Read.

Any perception that the government is failing to address the disaster properly could hurt Erdogan’s prospects in the vote.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visited southern Turkey on Wednesday to see first-hand the destruction wrought by a massive earthquake as anger grew among local people over what they said was a slow government response to the rescue and relief effort.

The combined confirmed death toll from Monday’s quake, which struck a swathe of southern Turkey and neighbouring Syria, rose to more than 11,000 people.

The tally was expected to rise as hundreds of collapsed buildings in many cities have become tombs for people who had been asleep in the homes when the quake hit in the early morning.

In the Turkish city of Antakya, dozens of bodies, some covered in blankets and sheets and others in body bags, were lined up on the ground outside a hospital.

“My wife doesn’t speak Turkish, and I can’t see very well,” said one man, who did not give his name. “We have to check all the faces. We need help.”

Families in southern Turkey and in Syria spent a second night in the freezing cold as overwhelmed rescuers tried to pull people from the rubble.

Many in the Turkish disaster zone had slept in their cars or in the streets under blankets, fearful of going back into buildings shaken by the 7.8 magnitude tremor – Turkey’s deadliest since 1999 – and by a second powerful quake hours later.

“Where are the tents, where are food trucks?” said Melek, 64, in Antakya, saying she had not seen any rescue teams.

“We haven’t seen any food distribution here, unlike previous disasters in our country. We survived the earthquake, but we will die here due to hunger or cold here.”

The death toll rose above 8,500 in Turkey. In Syria, already devastated by 11 years of war, the confirmed toll climbed to more than 2,500 overnight, according to the Syrian government and a rescue service operating in the rebel-held northwest.

Election Impact

Erdogan, who has declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces and sent in troops to help, arrived in the city of Kahramanmaras to view the damage and see the rescue and relief effort.

Speaking to reporters, with constant ambulance sirens in the background, Erdogan said there had been problems with roads and airports but that everything would get better by the day.

The disaster poses a new challenge to him in the election he faces in May that was already set to be the toughest of his two decades in power.

Any perception that the government is failing to address the disaster properly could hurt Erdogan’s prospects in the vote, but analysts say that on the other hand, he could rally national support around the crisis response and strengthen his position.

Reuters journalists in Kahramanmaras saw around 50 bodies draped in blankets on the floor of a sports hall. Family members searched for relatives among the dead.

Kneeling on the auditorium floor, a woman wailed with grief and embraced a body wrapped in a blanket

In Hatay province, where dozens more bodies lay outside in rows between Red Crescent tents, people opened body bags hoping to identify loved ones.

The quake toppled thousands of buildings including hospitals, schools and apartment blocks, injured tens of thousands, and left countless people homeless in Turkey and northern Syria.

Turkish authorities say some 13.5 million people were affected in an area spanning roughly 450 km (280 miles) from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east.

In Syria, it killed people as far south as Hama.

Turkey’s disaster management agency said the number of injured was above 38,000.

Under the Rubble

Aid officials voiced particular concern about the situation in Syria, where humanitarian needs were already greater than at any point since the eruption of a conflict that has partitioned the nation and is complicating relief efforts.

Residents in Syrian government-held territory contacted by phone have described the authorities’ response as slow, with some areas receiving more help than others.

In the town of Jandaris in northern Syria, rescue workers and residents said dozens of buildings had collapsed.

Standing around the wreckage of what had been a 32-apartment building, relatives of people who had lived there said they had seen no one removed alive. A lack of heavy equipment to remove large concrete slabs was impeding rescue efforts.

Rescue workers have struggled to reach some of the worst-hit areas, held back by destroyed roads, poor weather and a lack of resources and heavy equipment. Some areas are without fuel and electricity.

A rescue service operating in insurgent-held northwest Syria said the number of dead had climbed to more than 1,280 and more than 2,600 were injured.

“The number is expected to rise significantly due to the presence of hundreds of families under the rubble, more than 50 hours after the earthquake,” the rescue service said on Twitter.

Overnight, the Syrian health minister said the number of dead in government-held areas rose to 1,250, the state-run al-Ikhbariya news outlet reported on its Telegram feed. The number of wounded was 2,054, he said.

The 7.8 magnitude quake struck near the Turkish city of Gaziantep before dawn on Monday, killing more than 1,651 people in Turkiye and another 1,100 in neighboring Syria.

Dubai Ruler and UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum “directed urgent humanitarian aid to those affected in Syria,” WAM said.

The assistance is valued at 50 million dirhams, it added.

Countries around the world have mobilised rapidly to send aid and rescue workers to affected areas.

The UAE has dispatched a first plane to Adana Airport in southern Turkiye “”carrying search and rescue teams, crews, and medical equipment,” WAM said.

The UAE said it was planning to establish a field hospital in Turkiye and will also send search and rescue teams to Syria, along with urgent relief supplies and emergency aid, the news agency added.

Earlier on Monday, Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan offered his condolences to his Syrian and Turkish counterparts in two separate phone calls, according to WAM.

He “emphasized the UAE’s support for Syria and Turkiye and offered to provide any assistance in their efforts to mitigate the impact of the earthquake,” it said.

Dr. P. K. Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, convened a meeting in South Block to consider emergency relief measures in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s directives to provide all possible support to deal with today’s earthquake in Turkey.

It was determined that National Disaster Response Force’s (NDRF) Search & Rescue Teams, Medical Teams, and relief supplies would be sent out right away in collaboration with the Turkish government.

Two NDRF teams totaling 100 people, including specially trained dog squads, are prepared to be airlifted to the earthquake-affected area for search and rescue operations.

Additionally, medical teams are being prepared with qualified doctors and paramedics as well as necessary medications. Relief supplies will be delivered in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the Indian Embassy in Ankara, and the Consulate General in Istanbul.

Cabinet Secretary, representatives from the Ministries of Home Affairs, NDMA, NDRF, Defense, Ministry of External Affairs, Civil Aviation, and Health & Family Welfare attended the meeting.